To Be A Robin
by Supernova95
Summary: After he gets fired, Tim never takes on the Red Robin mantle, instead using his connections to get Bruce back. Though when he does get back, Bruce is very displeased with Dick over the whole situation, Dick tries to make amends.


**Co-written with KanadeTwilight, who asked me to help her with some Tim angst.**

* * *

He was back, finally back. It had taken everything Tim knew, every trick in the book, every favour he was owed.

But Bruce was back. And that was all that mattered.

That was all he cared abou-

"Robin?" That made him wince. Because he wasn't Robin, not anymore, not since Dick gave Robin to Damian.

"I'm not Robin anymore… That's Damian."

"Damian?" The man was as stoic as ever his voice bearing the smallest intonation of confusion.

"Yes, Damian is Robin." Tim insisted, "Dick gave it to him."

It felt weird to say that aloud; Dick gave Robin to Damian. He'd just put it all aside, all his anger and regret. Focusing on the task at hand, but now Bruce was back and there was no 'task at hand.' It used to be that he could concentrate on nothing but getting Bruce back, but now he was here, in front of him, the full realisation of what was taken from him sank in. Hard. The thing that he had worked for two years to achieve, the thing that had kept him sane, that had kept him going was gone. Like petals in the wind or a present that you desperately wanted, thrown away carelessly by those you thought you loved.

Then he felt a hand on his shoulder, and a chest pressed close to his back. It was a comforting warmth that he had almost forgotten, a feeling of safety and home that he could only associate with Bruce. It made him sigh, relax and smile, even though the turmoil of the past days weeks and months. He needed this, he needed his father to hold him, to tell him that everything's going to be alright.

Even if it isn't.

Even if it never will be again, because he's not Robin, not anymore. Not that he ever was in the first place. It was as Jason was always saying. He was nothing more than a replacement waiting to be replaced, a pretender filling shoes three sizes too big for him. Shoes that apparently a homicidal ten-year-old can fill perfectly well. Maybe he wasn't good enough, never was, never will be. Maybe they were just waiting for someone else, _anyone_ else.

Maybe they were just waiting to get rid of him.

Well at least Dick was. He was probably biding his time from the start, just waiting for an opportunity to rid him from their lives. But he thought that maybe, when Bruce adopted him, Bruce wanted him, but as the hand on his shoulder and warmth on his back pulled away he knew he was wrong.

It didn't hurt, nothing much hurt anymore. Not when he had so little left. Somewhere he had hoped that maybe, bringing Bruce back would magically fix everything. He was wrong, and he stole himself away, back into the corner of his mind he created just after the crisis, when everything went wrong. He couldn't bear to listen to Bruce's rejection also.

"Tim? Tim are you listening to me?" The man had spun him round so they were face to face, a concerned look in his eyes. No, he hadn't been, but he didn't say so. He didn't say anything. He just kept his eyes firmly fixed on the Bat insignia on his mentor's chest. "This means nothing, do you hear me, nothing." He was pulled into a fierce hug, "You'll always be my Robin."

Tim was… surprised. The shock pulsated through his body, tensing him up until it was as though Bruce was hugging a statue. Bruce, Batman, didn't hug. He didn't comfort. He was vengence, he was the night… he was the kindest man on Earth.

* * *

Tim was home, they were home, for the first time is what feels like forever, and nothing's changed. Everything was just as he left it, Alfred was still there, as polite as usual, Damian was still a Demon Brat, Dick was still… a dick. But he was getting better, they were getting better, though things would never be as they used to be.

But they could be, maybe. Because he had Batman on his side, and Batman always wins.

* * *

"Dick, what were you thinking?" He was outside Bruce's office, and he shouldn't be. He was just meant to be dropping off some paperwork, the things at Wayne Enterprises that Bruce had missed when he had been 'away.' But Bruce had company… and he should have come back later, but Bruce seemed angry. Really angry.

"I was thinking that Damian needed Robin. He was a loose cannon Bruce, he needed someone to be there with him, for him."

"And Tim didn't? Did you even think about him, Dick? At all?"

"I-"

"Because he needed someone too-"

"He needed his father!" The room went deathly quiet after that, they either weren't talking, or they weren't talking loud enough for him to hear.

But it was true, as much as he hated to admit it, he did need his father. But his father had thought to have been dead. Who do you turn to in a situation like that? Your family, though his family hadn't been there for him.

"I know. I know I should have been here, and you should never have been put in that position. But I trusted you. I trusted you to take care of him. He's lost so much more than we have. I just thought you were smarter than that."

"I didn't think. I couldn't think. You were gone, Gotham was in chaos, I had too much to think about and not enough time to do it. I had to make a decision, and Tim… Tim was just there, saying you were alive, but Bruce… we had your body. We buried you, he just… we thought he had, you know, lost it, and I couldn't have trusted him out there.

"I had wanted him to be my Nightwing." What? Dick, Dick had really wanted to give that to him?

"And did you share that with him?"

"No… I, I just told him that he couldn't be my partner, my Robin because we were equals, Robin has to do what Batman says, and I couldn't order him around like that… so Damian was Robin." Tim could almost feel Bruce's elongated smile and soft eyes as he looked at Dick (well, at least that's always what he did when Tim said something stupid to him).

"For someone who is always taking you aren't the best at communication Dick." Dick laughed his bright barking laugh,

"I know right, we're going to have to work on that." Tim giggled, shifting slightly outside the door. Unfortunately that shifting knocked over the lamp outside the room, and he wasn't quite quick enough to catch it. Now they knew he had been eavesdropping, but even as he started to hurry away he knew they would open the door before he could disappear.

"Timmy?" That was it, he was going to be in trouble, you're not supposed to eavesdrop, it's not polite.

"Yes, Dick?" He tried to be as nonchalant as possible.

"How… how much did you hear?" Dick sounded really uncertain, why should Dick sound uncertain, he wasn't uncertain before, when he replaced Tim.

"Errr, everything from 'Dick, what were you thinking?'" He said it despite knowing that a blush was slowly appearing on his cheeks.

"Oh, well, I…" Dick turned to look back at Bruce, who had one of the worst scowls Tim had ever seen gracing his face. It either translated as "I am disgusted with you Tim" or "Get on with it Dick"… Tim was hoping for the latter. Dick was silent for a long time, breathing deeply, sighing with each breath, "I'm sorry Tim." Dick hung his head looking utterly defeated, "I'm sorry that I didn't talk to you about Damian taking over as Robin. I should have. I should have done a lot of things; like believe what you were saying about Bruce being alive, and made sure you knew I didn't think you were a useless Robin. You were an amazing Robin… but every Robin has to leave the nest at some point. This just wasn't the way it was supposed to happen"

Tim's heart fluttered, and he flushed. Tim slowly made his way to Dick, before tentatively placing his arms around him in a hug. "It's okay."

Dick leaned into him, sobbing softly, "It's not." He barked a short and sweet laugh, even Tim couldn't help but smile,

"No, but it will be."

* * *

"Oh no you don't young man, you are being my teddy bear." Tim had but seconds to look shocked before he found himself being swept off his feet and landing firmly on the body already lying on the couch.

"Dick!" He was moaning, but he was allowed to moan, he had just spent months either alone or in the presence of Ra's al Ghul all because of a misunderstanding. He was allowed to be annoyed.

"Uh uh uh, teddy bears are meant to be cuddled… you're too bony Tim. Alfred, Tim's too bony! We have to feed him more."

"Duly noted, Master Richard."

"I do not need to eat more… and I am not too bony!" the sea of glares he received in reply to that statement silenced him.

"Even I have to admit it Drake, you are too thin."

"Thanks for the support, Demon Brat."

"No problem, Drake." It was weird to have Damian being nice to him, weird but vaguely satisfying.

"What movie are we watching Dick?" Bruce said coming into the room with a bowl full of microwave popcorn and arms full of soda bottles.

"I don't know, I was going to let Timmy decide."

"Really?"

"Of course, I think it's been too long since you've had the chance to chose the movie-" he stopped and the room was silent. Things were getting better but they still weren't great.

"Well," Tim tried to be a cheerful as possible, "I am up for watching The Avengers, I saw it in Istanbul, but you know, the League of Assassins aren't the best audience to be with…" That was perhaps not the best thing to say, judging at the way Bruce glared, Damian hissed and Dick flinched. "Ah… I… sorry?"

Dick hugged him tighter as Alfred put the disk in the player. "It's not your fault. Just don't go on anymore hopeless searches for non-dead people"

Tim laughed, snuggling further into his brother's side, "Don't worry, I'm not planning on it."

And he wasn't, Tim was home, he had found his family again, and everything would, at some point, be okay.


End file.
